Last time I asked him that question — after his first post-scandal victory, the 2011 World Challenge — Woods dug into his old-school playlist, throwing out an LL Cool J lyric from "Momma Said Knock You Out":

Don’t call it a comeback/I been here for years

Rockin’ my peers/Puttin’ suckers in fear

He may not want to call it a comeback, but let’s just say it’s been a while since he’s put suckers in fear.

Yes, he won three times last year, but each of those depended to some degree on others falling short as much as they did on Woods being at his best.

After wins like this one, though, where it was only ever about him, past may once again be prologue.

Despite an ugly final five holes — played in 4 over par — at the Farmers Insurance Open on Monday, Woods still comfortably won the tournament by four shots.

“In the end, I just started losing my patience. It was so friggin’ slow out there,” he said of being forced to spend almost four hours to play 11 holes.

“I had an 8-shot lead, so just needed to stay upright and I was going to be fine.”

It was his fourth win in 16 starts, a winning percentage near his career 27 percent It's his 75th win overall — just seven behind Sam Snead’s record — and eighth professional victory at Torrey Pines, a course he’s loved since he was a boy.

And success in San Diego has always been a good harbinger for Woods, who went on to win 38 times — including five majors — in the years he started seasons with a trophy here.

It appears he’s rockin’ his peers again, too.

“We’re kids compared to him,” lamented Erik Compton, who played in the group ahead of Woods on Monday.

Hunter Mahan said it was clear that Woods wanted to “send a message.”

“There’s been so much talk about Rory,” he added, referring to world No. 1 Rory McIlroy.

While Woods leaves Southern California not only with a check and a trophy but the knowledge that his wedges and short game — a liability for the past few years — are once again strengths, there’s a hole in the comeback.

Maybe it’s unfair — though it was Woods who set the bar so high — but to truly be back, he’s going to have to prove it on the game’s biggest stage: the majors.

Woods won the last of his 14 majors — ironically, here on a Monday — almost five years ago. Last year, he got tight on the weekend at the final three majors after being in the thick of the race and faded badly.

“I just didn’t play well,” he acknowledged on Monday.

“A lot of it is getting up-and-down at major championships. You’re not going to hit the ball great every day. You’re going to have to get up-and-down, make a 10-footer for par and I wasn’t doing that.

“Consequently, those 74s and 75s should have been 70s or 71s, and that’s how you win those tournaments.

“I started doing that towards the end of last year. Unfortunately, the majors were already over.”

But will the re-emergence of his short game lead to a green jacket in April?